Black History Month, February 2023

Panelists and Discussants:

• The Rt. Rev. Marc Handley Andrus, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of California; Pastor, Grade Cathedral; and author, Brothers in the Beloved Community: The Friendship of Thich Nhat Hanh and Martin Luther King Jr.
• Fr. Paul J Fitzgerald, President of the University of San Francisco
• Dr. Chinyere Oparah, USF Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs 
• Dr. Sheila Smith McKoy, USF Vice Provost of Equity, Inclusion and Faculty Excellence
• Jonathan D. Greenberg, Director, USF Institute for Nonviolence and Social Justice
• Dr. Kouslaa Kessler-Mata, Associate Professor in the USF Politics Department, member of California Governor Newsom’s Truth and Healing Council, and co-founder of the California Indian Land Institute.

This space for student expression is an outlet for their stories of triumph, joy, sorrow, and community. Students often perform in spoken word, rap, comedy, or singing. Lyricist Lounge is centering Black student voices in conjunction with BHM. The theme for this Lyricist Lounge is "Heroes.” They could be historical figures who’ve made impacts on our reality, community members who try to leave the world a little bit better than it was each day, or they could be the friends and family who always do what they can to support you. Regardless, they are people we can rely on. Even if we don’t acknowledge it, sometime in our lives we serve as heroes for other people as well. This Lyricist Lounge we ask you, what makes a hero to you? What forms them? We encourage you to tell their story, to celebrate, give gratitude, or even comfort the hero you recognize in your own life. Students are free to align their performance with the theme or not, there's no strict barrier. 

Robert Moses, Distinguished Artist-in-Residence and Associate Professor, Performing Arts

Choreographer, Writer and Composer Robert Moses has created over 100 works of varying styles and genres for his highly praised dance company, and has composed many of the sound and narrative scores for his works since 2008. Moses has choreographed for dance, opera, and theater companies including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, San Francisco Opera, Olympic Arts Festival, Ailey II, Philadanco, Lorraine Hansberry Theater, Cincinnati Ballet, Eco Arts, Transitions Dance Company of the Laban Center in London, African Cultural Exchange (UK), Bare Bones (UK), Oakland Ballet, New Conservatory Theater, Los Angeles Prime Moves Festival (L.A.C.E.), Moving People Dance, and Robert Henry Johnson Dance Company, among others. Prof. Moses is 

Rivka Valérie Louissaint, Art + Architecture, College of Arts & Sciences

A graduate of the California College of the Arts BFA program and the University of California, Berkeley's MFA Program in Art Practice, Rivka is a rising Haitian artist who powerfully deals with questions of race, capitalist critique, and social justice in her studio practice and teaching. The recipient of UC Berkeley’s prestigious Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award in 2022, she has already exhibited her mixed-media work in solo and group exhibitions in the Bay Area and New York City, including at the Hubbell Street Gallery, SOMArts Cultural Center, and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco. She received the prestigious Gerardo Marin Fellowship at USF in 2022. 

Sheila Smith McKoy, Vice Provost, Equity, Inclusion and Faculty Excellence 

Sheila Smith McKoy is Vice Provost of Equity, Inclusion and Faculty Excellence. Dr. Smith McKoy leads the university’s efforts in advancing ADEI (Antiracism, Diversity, Equity, And Inclusion), shared governance, and other strategic diversity initiatives for the university. She is responsible for assuring that USF’s commitment to inclusiveness is reflected in the faculty experience, including faculty development, recruitment, retention. Dr. Smith McKoy works with schools and colleges on teaching excellence, research and creative endeavor, tenure and promotion of faculty and librarians. She also partners on initiatives and programs focused on student inclusiveness, diversity and belonging. Prior to joining USF, Dr. Smith McKoy served as Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs at Holy Names University. She also served academic leadership positions at Kennesaw State University, North Carolina State University, and Vanderbilt University. As a consultant, she also worked with universities, colleges, and community colleges to build and support equity processes. In addition to her work as a higher education leader, she is a scholar, poet, fiction writer and filmmaker.

BHMH includes mindfulness meditation practices and group exploration focused on leaning into our ancestral strengths, finding empowerment through intersectional identities, and re-envisioning self care to represent self-soothing, acceptance, self-compassion, and internal systemic rebellion.